Second chance for criminal justice reform bills in R.I. Assembly

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The justice reinvestment bills that left Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed in tears when they failed to pass on the last day of 2016’s session were re-introduced this week.

The six criminal justice reform bills were championed by Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, and worked on for a year by a committee of judges, legislators, agency heads, community leaders and others with the Council of State Governments Justice Center, a national nonprofit organization.

“We passed them last session,” said Sen. Michael J. McCaffrey, D-Warwick, the lead sponsor of the Senate bills previously and now. “Unfortunately, they didn’t make it through the House of Representatives.”

The bills include: more thorough screening of those up for probation or parole to better identify those in need of mental-health treatment; changes the penalties for misdemeanors, felony assaults and larceny; and alters how the state Parole Board determines an inmate’s release by including criminal history and attitudes that “bear on the likelihood to re-offend.”

Among others, they also call for additional training for correctional officers, lengthening the time a terminally ill person could request medical parole from within six months to live to 18 months and expands the type of reimbursements crime victims can receive.

House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello remarked in the morning hours of June 18 that the bills were too soft on crime. Last month, he said the bills were “victims of a process” and the legislators simply ran out of time.

Said Mattiello in December, “We plan on addressing those bills early. ... Where it goes, I don’t know.”

“The purpose of these justice reform bills is first and foremost to ensure the safety of our citizens in the most cost-effective ways possible without sacrificing any level of public protection,” Craven said in a news release. “It costs a significant amount of taxpayer dollars and the state budget to incarcerate people and if we can prevent batterers from re-offending or divert those with mental illness and addiction issues from serving prison time, it will make our communities safer and save our taxpayers’ money within the state budget.”

The following night, Rep. Edith H. Ajello, D-Providence, and Rep. Christopher R. Blazejewski, D-Providence, each re-introduced a criminal justice bill. A House spokesman said there are plans to re-introduce a sixth bill next week. All are identical to the bills McCaffrey re-submitted.

Given how early the bills were re-introduced, McCaffrey noted there is ample time to vet the bills: “Hopefully, they will [pass] this year.”

Senate Judiciary, which McCaffrey chairs, is having a hearing on them on Jan. 19.

In her initial address to the chamber, Paiva Weed said, “Justice reinvestment saves money through lower incarceration rates, makes communities safer by making offenders less likely to reoffend, and has the potential to transform lives of individuals who need treatment, not incarceration.”